RIYADH — Saudi Arabia’s Yazeed Al-Rajhi managed to beat French legend Stéphane Peterhansel by 46 seconds to extend his overall advantage in the Riyadh Rally to 54 seconds after the challenging second 307km section through the deserts around Rumah on Friday morning.
Aiming to win the inaugural Saudi Toyota Desert Rally Championship and continue valuable pre-Dakar Rally testing, Al-Rajhi and Ulster co-driver Michael Orr clocked a time of 2hr 18min 40sec in a Toyota Hilux.
Like Peterhansel, series rival Yasir Seaidan drove an X-raid prepared MINI JCW Buggy and reached the stage end in third and the night halt 2min 41sec adrift of the outright leader.
Czech driver Miroslav Zapletal slipped to fifth place behind ED Racing’s Essa Al-Dossari and a plethora of Saudi drivers filled the remaining places inside the top 10. Mutair Al-Shammeri was the best of the bunch in sixth, followed by Faris Al-Moshna Al-Shammeri, Sami and Al-Mashna Al-Shammeri and 10th-placed Khalid Al-Remali.
Salman Al-Shammeri moved to the top of the T2 standings for series-production cross-country vehicles with the fastest time that put the Nissan driver 4min 41sec ahead of Farhan Al-Muharib. Yousef Al-Suwaidi held third overall and Talal Al-Bader moved his Ford up into fourth.
Saleh Al-Saif extended his advantage in the NUTV section to 1min 49sec at the wheel of a Can-Am Maverick X3. Yousef Al-Dhaif maintained second position and Khalil Al-Tuwaijri was third.
Saudi Arabia’s leading rider Mishal Alghuneim hit the front in the motorcycle category with the fastest time of 3hr 00min 53sec. That enabled the KTM rider to forge into a 1min 20sec advantage over Abu Dhabi’s Mohammed Al-Balooshi.
His brother Sultan came home in third place after incurring a one-minute penalty and Kuwait’s Abdullah Al-Shatti rounded off the top four.
As both Abdullah Al-Malki and Abdullah Al-Shegawi retired from the quad category, pre-race favorite Abdulmajeed Al-Khulaifi incurred 57 minutes of time penalties and plummeted down the running order before retiring from the day with another fistful of penalties.
Sultan Al-Masoud clocked the unofficial fastest time before any potential penalties were imposed and returned to Riyadh on his Yamaha ahead of Fahad Al-Madah and Sufyan Al-Omar.
The event is being organized by the Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation (SAMF), under the chairmanship of Prince Khalid Bin Sultan Al-Abdullah Al-Faisal and supervision of former FIA Middle East champion Abdullah Bakhashab.
The rally runs with the support of the Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation, the General Sport Authority, Abdul Latif Jameel Motors (Toyota), the MBC Group, Al-Arabia outdoors and the Saudi Research and Marketing Group.
Tomorrow (Saturday), competitors will tackle a shorter section of 160km through the scenic Saad National Park before the ceremonial finish at Al Diriyah, near Riyadh. — SG
www.saudidesertrally.com
